The Darts of Dawn: The Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli Venus Complex in the Iconography of Mesoamerica and the American Southwest

Mathiowetz, Michael; Schaafsma, Polly; Coltman, Jeremy D.; Taube, Karl

doi:10.1353/jsw.2015.0000

Cited by 24 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…At some point then, it appears that Quetzalcoatl and his avatar Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli (Mathiowetz et al 2015), replaced Xolotl as the main Venus and morning star deity among the Nahuas, as also suggested by Moreno de los Arcos. Tezcatlipoca, who also forms a pair with Quetzalcoatl in several myths, seems to have taken on some of the more baleful aspects of the evening star deity.…”

Section: Wordmentioning

confidence: 92%

Xolotl and Uto-Aztecan Stellar Twins: A Comparative Analysis of the history of the word(s) Xolotl

Hansen¹

2022

Preprint

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Based on a historical reconstruction of the semantic and phonological developments leading to the xolotl-words attested in the sources, this chapter argues that the name Xolotl was originally associated with a notion of 'subordinate companionship'. This association in turn came through the mythological role of Xolotl as the minor of two Venus related twin-deities found in mythological narratives of various Uto-Aztecan peoples. This narrative is represented in Aztec mythology both in the story of Quetzalcoatl's journey to the underworld accompanied by Xolotl, and in the myth of the siblings Tecuciztecatl and Nanahuatzin who turned into the sun and moon through self-immolation. Xolotl then represents the lesser partner in a dyadic pair, the companion or antagonist to a protagonist. Because of these mythological associations, to Nahuatl speakers in the post-classic period, the name Xolotl was likely associated with the planet Venus as an evening star, with the direction west, and with hunting.

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Section: Wordmentioning

confidence: 92%

Xolotl and Uto-Aztecan Stellar Twins: A Comparative Analysis of the history of the word(s) Xolotl

Hansen¹

2022

Preprint

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“…Each upper register depicts the Venus God hurling darts below, for a total of 236. This “Lord of the Dawn,” feared in Postclassic Mesoamerica and even the Southwest as a fierce deity, was represented with either a vertically striped or sometimes fleshless body (Mathiowetz et al 2015:54, 57–60). Like the intimidating Aztec tzitzimime , “star demons,” the Morning Star could be rendered as a party defleshed head or skull (Taube 1993:6).…”

Section: Death and Ritual Body Processing In “New” Chichen's Sculptur...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Like the intimidating Aztec tzitzimime , “star demons,” the Morning Star could be rendered as a party defleshed head or skull (Taube 1993:6). Further Venus attributes are stars, flint dart points, and a close association with the feathered serpent (Mathiowetz et al 2015:5). The art of Chichen Itza is replete with Venus symbolism and Venus-related figures, some holding darts, some entwined with serpents (feathered and not), and further examples with skull faces or masks (Miller 1989).…”

Section: Death and Ritual Body Processing In “New” Chichen's Sculptur...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Heads, Skulls, and Sacred Scaffolds. New Studies on Ritual Body Processing and Display in Chichen Itza and Beyond

Tiesler

Miller

2023

Ancient Mesoam

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Chichen Itza stands as a monumental landmark of late Pre-Columbian Maya and Mesoamerican religious complexes. Among the enigmatic aspects of Chichen Itza's ceremonial innovations count skull racks (known as tzompantli in Nahuatl), where the heads of sacrificed victims would be exhibited. Here we combine the scrutiny of death imagery and human skeletal remains, including skulls with marks of bilateral or basal impalement and mandibles with perimortem decapitation from “New” Chichen, the Osario complex, and from Chichen's astronomical Caracol complex. Our combined skeletal and iconographic data confirm the increased practice of corpse processing and head exhibition at Chichen Itza when compared to Classic-period Maya centers. Most of these body treatments were not foreign introductions, as generally believed, but followed local practices, long carried out at the Yucatecan urban centers of Nohpat, Kabah, Uxmal, and Dzibilchaltun. Although on a minor scale compared to Chichen, these demonstrate the display of human body segments, not only skulls, which renders the term tzompantli problematic. In the context of the totalitarian rhetoric of Chichen's central spaces, the massified violence and corpse display herald late religious cults at the cadences of battles won, astronomical cycles, and the perpetual movement of the Feathered Serpent.

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“…During the late Colonial and Sedentary periods (i.e., AD 700–1070), Hohokam society adopted (and/or adapted ) several distinctly Mesoamerican traits (e.g., Maldonado Cárdenas 2002; Mathiowetz et al 2015; Wallace 2014). These include the importation of objects (e.g., copper bells, conch trumpets), fauna (e.g., scarlet macaws, thick-billed parrots), artifact styles (e.g., palettes, censers), and feature types (e.g., ballcourts, platform mounds).…”

Section: The Hohokam Regional Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Social Use and Value of Blue-Green Stone Mosaics at Sites within Canal System 2, Phoenix Basin, Hohokam Regional System

Shepard¹,

Russell²,

Schwartz

et al. 2021

Am. Antiq.

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The occurrence of nonlocal objects, raw materials, and ideas in the southwestern United States (U.S. SW) has long been recognized as evidence of interaction between prehispanic peoples of this region and those of greater Mesoamerica. Although many archaeologists have analyzed the directionality and potential means by which these objects and concepts moved across the landscape, few have assessed the degree to which Mesoamerican practices and traditional assemblages remained intact as the artifacts and ideas moved farther from their places of origin. The current study analyzes the distribution and deposition of blue-green stone mosaics, a craft technology that was well established in Mesoamerica by the Late Preclassic period (300 BC–AD 250) and spread to the U.S. SW by the start of the Hohokam Pioneer period (AD 475). We assess the spatial distribution, contextual deposition, and morphology of mosaics at sites within Hohokam Canal System 2, located in the Phoenix Basin of Arizona. We use these data to infer mosaics’ social value and function within Hohokam social structure. Analyses suggest that, although the technology of mosaic making may have originated in Mesoamerica, the contexts and ways in which mosaics were used in the Hohokam regional system were decidedly Hohokam.

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The Darts of Dawn: The Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli Venus Complex in the Iconography of Mesoamerica and the American Southwest

Cited by 24 publications

References 47 publications

Xolotl and Uto-Aztecan Stellar Twins: A Comparative Analysis of the history of the word(s) Xolotl

Xolotl and Uto-Aztecan Stellar Twins: A Comparative Analysis of the history of the word(s) Xolotl

Heads, Skulls, and Sacred Scaffolds. New Studies on Ritual Body Processing and Display in Chichen Itza and Beyond

The Social Use and Value of Blue-Green Stone Mosaics at Sites within Canal System 2, Phoenix Basin, Hohokam Regional System

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